Log on with the press

Getting good publicity for your health initiative is crucial to promote men’s health and increase the profile and credibility of your organisation.

The Men’s Health Forum will be generating media coverage nationally. Coverage during previous weeks has been good by the standards of national health event and we hope to generate more in 2011. But national publicity may have a limited impact locally. There is no substitute for local action. If you have an event organised during Men’s Health Week that you would like to publicise, please notify our press office. 

Following these tips will help you generate the publicity you need. If you need more help our PR company - details below - are available.

• Plan your project well in advance. If your organisation has press/PR staff, liaise with the relevant person - don’t go it alone.
• Compile a list of all the local/regional media in which you hope to get your story covered (remember local radio, television and websites too - don’t focus just on newspapers). You can usually find contact details on each publication’s website. Alternatively, details are available at http://www.nsdatabase.co.uk/
• Decide whether you want publicity before and/or after the event. If you want to entice people to attend local papers may run a short news item in advance. You may also want to consider direct advertising in a local paper. When writing your news release remember it must include the 5 Ws: Where, Who, What, Why and When. Make sure the release includes a contact name and details for journalists.
•  Mention National Men’s Health Week in your release. You may well get more coverage if journalists know that your event is part of a bigger, national story. The press release should be distributed via email if possible. It’s also worth giving the publication a call beforehand to talk them through the details of your event and get the correct e-mail address to send the press release to. Do not presume that people talk to one-another (speak to news desk and if you want a photographer, contact the photographic dept separately requesting it to be diarized.
• Social Networking/Viral Campaign. Why not create a facebook or twitter page to promote you event, and ask your friends, colleagues, supporters to invite their contacts
• If you are inviting journalists to an event, think about how you will manage them in advance. Some men considering a health check, for example, may well be put off if they turn up and see 15 journalists and five TV cameras. You could consider inviting the media to attend your event at one specific time, perhaps before your event is open to the public, and arranging for men who are willing to talk to the media to be present. Remember, it’s very important for the media to be able to talk to ‘case studies’ (i.e. ‘real people’), not just the experts.
• Get the support of local celebrities or dignitaries, if possible. Your local MP may attend, for example, especially if given enough notice. If you can’t get a VIP to turn up, try and get a written statement of support which you can quote in your press release.
•  Take decent quality photographs of the event. These may be useful for media that are unable to attend but also for your own records (they will look impressive in your annual report). Ideally pictures should be digital, high resolution i.e. 300dpi which can be e-mailed.
• Ensure someone is around to deal with media enquiries, especially on the day of an event.
• After the event, contact key journalists with some key facts demonstrating the success of your event, eg. ‘we saw 30 men, 10 of whom were obese and didn’t know it.’ Include photograph to illustrate event success
• Monitor the media to keep a record of the coverage you achieved. This is especially important for funders who like to see this sort of evidence of a return on their investment. Please send copies of your cuttings (and photos) to the Men’s Health Forum too - this will enable us to assess the overall impact of the Week. If you do not have a media monitoring provider, you can register free on the internet with Google news alerts.

Our communications agency for this year is FD Santé. An award winning specialist healthcare consultancy based in London with extensive experience in public relations, running campaigns and raising awareness, FD Santé are helping provide a wide range of public relations and media activities. Please contact: Celia Hall, FD Santé, celia.hall@fdsante.com; Direct: +44 (0)20 3077 0497; Mobile: +44 (0)7515 597 436.